CONVERSATION WITH A MYSTIC

“Sardar ji, welcome. After a long time a Sikh has visited this mausoleum. Here Baba Nanak had spent some time,” a mystic, dressed in an all-black attire stated at the shrine of Hazrat Shah Shams Tabrez in Multan. Paying my respects at the inner sanctum, as I viewed the frescos...

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NA KO HINDU NA MUSALMAN

The spirit of pluralism, represented by Baba Nanak’s simple words, I witnessed in practice at the Dera Sahib, Pakistan I thereafter proceeded to the sanctum sanctorum to join a sparse congregation and was ecstatic to see shabads (hymns) being sung by a group comprising of a Hindu and two Muslim...

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ART OF DYING

Close to the Radcliffe line in Pakistan —– Feeling you grasp for breath, I heard Kabir resonate in your collapsing walls, WEEP NOT AT DEATH, NOTHING IS PERMANENT. WHATEVER CREATED, SHALL PERISH. For seven decades, we the vestiges have beckoned the descendants of our creators; infuse us again with life;...

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GLORY THAT PUNJAB WAS

Sikh fresco art on the walls of dying monuments across Pakistan speak volumes about the past glory of the region; a highly evolved and respectful society, where women were no less than men! A woman leads a hunt in this 19th century fresco on a dilapidated gurdwara wall in central...

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SOME SAY RAM, SOME ALLAH!

Walking the streets of Sahiwal (Pakistan), I spotted a domed building, distinctively looking like a gurdwara but adorned with a copper, triangular pennant, indicating it would be a Hindu temple.   “Hindu Satsang Sabha” was written on its dome in Hindi but at its entrance a plaque engraved in Gurmukhi,...

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CUCUMBER IN A SANDWICH

At the Indo-Pak border, standing at Ganda Singh Wala (Pakistan), a village named after a Sikh; I looked towards Hussain Wala (India), a village named after a Muslim. Twenty kilometers behind me was Kasur in Pakistan, the town of Baba Bullhe Shah and ahead of me was Faridkot in India,...

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LEGACY DIMINSHED TO THE GURGLE OF A HOOKAH

At the historic Second Anglo Sikh War Memorial in Chillianwala (Pakistan), a conversation with Mahmud Khan. Indian history textbooks refrain to mention the accounts of Sikh history which occurred on the soil of Pakistan, and these chapters remain suppressed in Pakistan as they are considered non-Islamic. In this tussle, the...

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‘HIS STORY’ IS HISTORY

At the Khyber Gate, opposite Jamrud Fort, as I read the seven large plaques affixed on the Khyber Memorial, on which are inscribed detailed history of the region, from the ‘ancient times’ to the ‘present’, it was evident that History is nothing else but ‘HIS STORY’. The Sikh Empire in...

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CIRCLE OF LIFE

At Gujranwala in Pakistan, the young students looked dazed as I peeked into their classroom. Their startled expression revealed that they had never seen a Sikh. The hall in which they were being taught, was once a gurdwara of the Sikh community. Till 1947, it is here that the Sikhs...

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DIVERSITY VAPORIZED

As I flew over Nanga Parbat in Pakistan, on the right of the plane was Baltistan and on the left, Gilgit. The diversity that existed across these remote high altitude territories before the partition of India, is reflected in the book entitled, “Gilgit Rebellion – The major who mutinied over...

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FORGOTTEN INFLUENCE:

At Skardu, in the region of Baltistan in Pakistan, having visited the remains of the abandoned and dilapidated gurdwara, I thereafter strolled through the market. As per the Jammu & Kashmir census of 1941, of the total population of 106,289 in Skardu, there were only 131 Sikhs and 141 Hindus....

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BOLLYWOD FAKIR

At Islamabad Literature Festival, a member of the audience asked, “How do you feel travelling across Pakistan as an identifiable Sikh?” My reply was, “Bollywood Fakir!” Across Pakistan, at every nook and corner, people wish to interact, feed and more importantly, want selfies and photos! At Bhai Pheru, every step...

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ROOTS WILL FIND US

The web of roots represented in the word ‘Singh’ that every Sikh man would once proudly use as part of his name, may have lost its significance, primarily because the community’s relationship with the lands where they had once made a glorious history, was severed in the partition of 1947....

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FREEDOM WRENCHED

While travels across Pakistan in search of the Sikh legacy has been uplifting but also a highly emotional experience. A view of the Panja Sahib Gurdwara through the grills conveyed a feeling of being in a prison. Freedom wrenched! In 1849, the machinations of the British India, resulted in the...

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ISHQ

‘Ishq’ in its ultimate form means unfettered passion! For years, I had dreamt of being inside the forts across the turbulent North-Western region of Pakistan from where the Sikh Empire in the early 19th century had successfully plugged the Khyber Pass, putting to stop the invasions into the Indian sub-continent....

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HEIGHT OF DEPTH

In an interesting encounter with a Fakir, he smiled and said, “Climb the heights of depth!” For years, I was focused on scaling the ‘Heights of Height’, and am now attempting to climb the ‘Heights of Depth’. So during my return in 2017, I tried to search for the Fakir!...

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